Group Projects – Council Initiated

A local authority identifies demand for group projects using its Register. It then identifies land for this purpose and markets the opportunity. It may also help groups to form, become constituted and appoint advisers to develop proposals. The local authority develops a method for assessing the proposals against key criteria and awards sites to the most robust groups.

Phases

Initiation

Check demand

Identify suitable land

Write planning brief

Fix the price

Market the opportunity

Planning, design
& finance

Select a robust group

Ask them to develop proposals

Assess the planning application

Ground works

Monitor the works

Home build

Monitor the works

People

Initiator

Land Owner

Lender

Consultants

Private Homebuilder

Briefing Notes

Demand

Be sure you know level and type of demand – analyse those on your Register.

Monitoring

Pros/Cons

PROS

It is a good way of delivering a mix of homes, including affordable, market housing, shared equity and other innovative tenures/solutions

It creates an ‘instant’ community as the people involved often get to know each other as the homes are built

On large sites this approach works well alongside spec built housing, and it can collectively result in more homes being built quicker

You generate a fair return from any land sales, and you can charge Groups a modest fee to recover your operational costs

CONS

It can take a little longer in the early development stages – Groups need to initially form up/come together, prepare their proposals, and get their planning permissions in place. But overall it takes about the same time as a more traditional residential development

You need to be confident the Brief you draw up is viable and workable. Groups will not submit bids on land where they cannot make the sums work, or cannot secure finance

The selection process needs to be transparent and robust

Notes

ADAPTING THIS APPROACH

This process is based on 20 years experience that has been developed in Germany and the Netherlands. They have trialed many approaches and this model is now the one that has been widely adopted.
It is a simple, step by step process that works.

FURTHER INFORMATION

This Toolkit contains numerous examples – from France, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria and Switzerland.
You may also be interested in how councils can support others in delivering group projects – see Model Group Projects – Working with Others.

Case Studies

The model above is generic. In reality every project is different and you may find these Case Studies useful reference points.